My Advice? Be Careful of People Giving You Advice!

One of my favourite songs is Sunscreen by Baz Luhrman which reached Number 1 in the UK charts. It pokes fun at the idea of graduation speeches and the whole concept of giving advice whilst actually delivering some good advice itself. So, what is the problem with advice?

Well, the biggest problem with advice is that it comes from someone who, nine times out of ten, doesn’t know the full story, isn’t in anything like the same situation and is actually saying what they would do rather than what you should do. I remember getting advice throughout my life from, usually, well meaning people who didn’t know what I was going through because I didn’t tell them. I remember one of my friends telling me that if I wanted to get further in teaching that I needed to invest in much better clothes as mine were not giving out the right message. For him, it was perfect advice as he was a boardroom level executive. For me, it was completely useless because my progress was going to be based on my record, for a teacher I was very smart already, and I had nothing like the £400 to £500 lying around to upgrade my wardrobe as he suggested! It was around this time that I stopped having much to do with any advice I was offered that didn’t come from my wife.

Janet gives me the advice I need because she knows me and my situations fully, more fully than I do in fact. Her advice is tailored to me and to what is best for our family and always has been. She knows our finances so she isn’t going to tell me to spend loads of money we don’t have on things we don’t need. She told me I needed to step back from year round work and showed me how it would be possible financially. As ever, I took a while to come round to the idea but when I did I knew she would be right. So, as Sunscreen says, ‘Be careful whose advice you take’ because very few people have any real idea of you or your situation.